Understanding Dyslexia – Part 2

1
Understanding Dyslexia Part 2

• http//speak2read.ca/
  [phone]

2
I want to unpack the definition of Dyslexia that
I provided to you in part 1 of this series.  As a
refresher, I will provide the definition
again Dyslexia is a specific learning
disability that is neurological in origin. 
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
3
These difficulties typically result from a
deficit in the phonological component of language
that is often unexpected in relation to other
cognitive abilities and the provision of
effective classroom instruction.    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
4
Secondary consequences may include problems in
reading comprehension and reduced reading
experience that can impede the growth of
vocabulary and background knowledge.   The
Difficulty is Unexpected  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
5
First, it states that the difficulty with reading
is unexpected.  I get this ALL. THE. TIME.
Parents tell me My child speaks fine or my
child has no trouble expressing
themselves.   The underlying language
impairments in dyslexia are SPECIFIC and may ONLY
show up in reading and spelling!    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
6
The IDA Practise Standards remind us
that   Dyslexia and related learning
difficulties often exist in individuals with
aptitudes, talents, and abilities that enable
them to be successful in many domains.    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
7
If your child is not at grade level for reading
or spelling, you need to get him/her assessed by
a SpeechLanguage Pathologist.   Secondary
Problems   Secondary problems can include reduced
reading comprehension and a lack of interest in
reading.   . 
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
8
I get this a lot parents say my child reads
fine, they just dont understand what they
read.   Consider this a chicken-egg problem, and
that your child probably has you fooled.  They
may be using visual memory of words, their
language skills and the context of the story, and
basically guessing a large number of the words. 
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
9
Or, they may be accurately identifying words, but
it is requiring so much processing power there is
little left for comprehension we see this a lot
with low fluency scores.  They cannot comprehend
because they cannot truly READ (Ok, so it is not
a chicken-egg problem.  Reading ability
definitely comes before comprehension!)
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
10
  If your child struggles with reading
comprehension, I recommend getting an assessment
of their oral language comprehension, decoding,
and spelling skills.  How well are they reading,
really? Dyslexia is trouble recognizing and
spelling WORDS          
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
11
Is your child not at grade level?  Consider that
it may be dyslexia!   Dyslexia occurs at the
sound and word levels.  When a child is slow to
identify a word accurately, OR has trouble
representing a familiar word in spelling, it may
be a mild form of Dyslexia.  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
12
The IDA Practise Standards remind us that reading
abilities occur on a spectrum   Reading skill
is distributed on a continuum students may
experience mild, moderate, or severe problems
with some or all of the essential subskills of
reading.
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
13
Children may perceive letters and words as
backwards or experience that the letters are
jumping around on the page, but that does NOT
classify, characterize, or define Dyslexia.  That
is ONE manifestation or EXPERIENCE of dyslexia.  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
14
The takeaway?  The International Dyslexia
Association states that in the US, 32 of
children are below average by Gr. 4.   If there
was a stronger understanding of what dyslexia is,
these children would likely get diagnosed and
supported.  As is, only about 5 of children
receive the diagnosis before Gr. 4.  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
15
Bear in mind, MANY children will be labelled as a
slow learner, or struggling reader, or below
grade level, even by Gr 1!!   However, these
children dont USUALLY get the specialized,
individualized instruction that they need!  In
schools, they dont get taught in a way that is
much different than the other kids that ARENT
struggling.    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
16
If these children were labelled with Dyslexia,
would they get more help?  If 25 of kids
received a diagnosis of Dyslexia, would it erase
the stigma that can be associated with learning
disability?  Food for thought  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
17
  Remember  Dyslexia is difficulty in
recognizing or spelling words.  Is your child not
identifying or spelling words at grade level? 
They may not need a diagnosis but they DO need
special instruction!!  How are you going to be
sure they get it?    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
18
Dyslexia is diagnosed AFTER effective classroom
instruction!   If you take your child to a
Psychologist prior to Grade three, it is likely
that you will hear something like may meet the
requirements for Learning Disability, with a
recommendation to re-assess after Grade three or
Grade four to see if they respond to
intervention.
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
19
Its a Wait-and-See approach, and it is maddening
for parents.  If the child gets some extra help,
tutoring, small group work, pull-out time, and
they make GAINS, it is not a learning
disability.  If they get extra help and they
DONT, then it IS a learning disability.
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
20
We often have concerns in Kindergarten, but dont
receive the diagnosis until Grade 4.  And in the
meantime, the child slips further and further
behind. Then, once a child is diagnosed in Grade
Four, they get MORE of the SAME small-group and
pull-out instruction that they had prior to Grade
Four the instruction that wasnt WORKING!!  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
21
HERES THE IMPORTANT PART!!   It says effective
instruction.  Schools use Jolly Phonics, Lively
Letters, Balanced Literacy, Guided Reading,
Levelled Literacy Intervention all packaged
programs that help expose children to the aspects
of literacy that typically developing students
need.  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
22
Regular children, that is. However, for a child
with a learning difference, these programs DO NOT
provide effective instruction.   Even if a child
gets pulled out of the classroom and works 1-1
with an adult doing Leveled Literacy
Intervention, that is NOT effective instruction!  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
23
CONSIDER THIS YOUR WARNING!  There are many
products, after-school programs, tutors, etc.
that make it LOOK like they are teaching reading.
But they are NOT FOLLOWING THE GUIDELINES for
effective instruction.  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
24
Parents need to know that when their child gets
extra help at school and they take them to the
reading group on Wednesday evenings that their
childs learning is NOT HANDLED!!  Parents are
wasting their money and their childs time.   (I
wrote a blog post about this very topic, and you
can access it here)
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
25
Children with a learning difference a brain
that is biologically different need something
SPECIAL.   According to the IDA  The methods
supported by research are explicit, systematic,
cumulative, and multisensory in that they
integrate listening, speaking, reading, and
writing.  
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
26
They are also multilinguistic, as they directly
teach the structure of language at all levels,
including the speech sound system (phonology),
the writing system (orthography), the structure
of sentences (syntax), the meaningful parts of
words (morphology), word and phrase meanings
(semantics), and the organization of spoken and
written discourse.
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
27
The strategies emphasize planning, organization,
attention to task, critical thinking, and
self-management.   See my previous post Best
Teaching Practises for Struggling Readers to
understand further.      
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
28
In my experience, children cannot GET effective
instruction in most schools.  The type of
instruction that IDA advocates for does not exist
in the classroom.          
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
29
It may happen in certain schools that have a
highly qualified specialist, but my bet is that
person is run ragged off their ass and cannot see
all the children they need to see as often as
they need to see them, so they are STILL not
getting effective instruction.            
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
30
Do you see the quandary in all of this?  Our
educational system basically CANNOT diagnose
Dyslexia, because it CANNOT say whether a child
has been able to learn from effective
instruction, because it DOES NOT provide
effective instruction!!   So, what do they do?
They wait. Parents wait.            
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
31
And children are diagnosed with a learning
disability in Gr 5, or Gr 8, or High School, or
even in College! (its much more common than
youd think).   The part that makes you want to
gouge your eyeballs out with a spoon? EVERYBODY
knew that these kids couldnt read in Grade 1.
Some kids, we can tell in Kindergarten .        
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
32
. Even Pre-school. We can PREDICT dyslexia we
just cant diagnose it!  These kids are FAILED by
the system.   Luckily, the IDA Practise Standards
indicate that          
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
33
Although early intervention is the most
effective way to prevent and ameliorate learning
problems, individuals with dyslexia and other
reading difficulties can be helped at any
age.   What if we didnt wait?  What if we
provided effective instruction as soon as we had
concerns?          
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
34
Within my practice, I offer a free parent
consultation.  Bring me EVERYTHING who your
child is seeing, which approach or program or
method they are taught with I will give you a
second opinion. Im betting I can poke holes in
whatever they are doing AND cite the RESEARCH
that proves it is ineffective.          
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
35
Which puts you in an educated position to make an
informed choice regarding your childs
future.   My Recommendation   When your child is
4, or 5, or 6, 7, 8, 9, and they are not yet
diagnosed, consider that they have a
Dyslexia-type brain.  We dont know if it is mild
or severe.        
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
36
We dont know if they will respond to certain
types of teaching or not. We dont know if the
diagnostic label will fit in Gr. 4.   However, we
CAN recognize when they have a learning
difference.        
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
37
Why not consider that they have a dyslexic-type
brain, that they are at-risk, and then
purposefully DO something about it, and GET THEM
specialized teaching?   At Speak2Read, we BUILT
our program around the recommendations of the
IDA.      
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
38
We designed our Instructional Approach
SPECIFICALLY FOR CHILDREN who have difficulty
reading and spelling words. We selected our
strategies, our objectives and targets, our
materials, and our activities based on the
RESEARCH that proves children can learn when
provided with effective instruction.    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
39
We CREATED effective instruction from research
and best practise to support behind, at-risk, and
diagnosed children. And we can tell EARLY often
at age 4 or 5 that your child may have a
Dyslexia-type brain (remember, 32 of children
do!)      
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
40
And even if your child DOESNT have dyslexia,
they are still going to LEARN and BENEFIT from
what we have to offer.   We ALWAYS create a
custom-tailored, individualized plan for EVERY
child. And we do so because we must it is the
ONLY thing that works.      
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
41
The IDA Practise Standards tell us
that   Different kinds of reading and writing
difficulties require different approaches to
instruction. One program or approach will not
meet the needs of all students.    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
42
If your child is behind other children of the
same age or not reading at expected grade level,
a comprehensiveassessment with a Speech
Language Pathologist is the most informative
thing you can do to learn about your child.    
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
43
If your child has ANY difficulty in expressing
themselves with speech sounds, saying words
correctly, finding the right words, forming
sentences it is never too early to get
started!   Feeling unsure?  I offer a free
consultation for parents to ask their questions
and discuss their concerns.      
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883
44
In fact, you can book online without leaving our
website! Follow the link at the top of the
page.   Source - http//speak2read.ca/understandi
ng-dyslexia-part-2/ .      
http//speak2read.ca/
(587)
583-7883